Founded in 1993 by students at Wroclaw University, Chudoba is a 9-piece folk band who perform material from throughout Poland, as well as from surrounding lands such as Bulgaria, Serbia and the Ukraine. Their music is almost a labour of preservation and restoration, as they take the fragments of songs and tunes from their own memory and give them new life. This release is comprised of 22 of Chudoba's favorite tracks from their first two CDs (which were released only in Poland). All of the songs and tunes are traditional.

Chudoba use guitars, violins, drums, percussion, Byelorussian dulcimer, mandolin, flutes and eight of the nine also sing (giving the band a strong vocal presence). They are adept at rhythm, as seen on "Ajde, Jano," a Serbian folk song in 7/8 time, or "Korczma," about the "fatal consequences of unfair inn management." On tracks such as "Stoi Lipka," a love song with a polka backbeat, they have a catchy, frenetic spirit. - Ivan Emke

Other tracks find Chudoba in a quieter, and more thoughtful, repose. There is the wedding song, "Ktoz zam po komorze," with classical guitar and mandolin in the forefront, and the lullaby translated as "My mother has kept me in modesty."

While their name means "meager possessions," their waelth of talent makes it obvious why they won the "New Tradition" award for the number 1 folk band in Poland in 1998. - Ivan Emke